Tyrone go down to Fermanagh

ALLIANZ NFL DIVISION 1A

Fermanagh 0-9 Tyrone 0-8

Troubled times for Tyrone after they succumbed to their second defeat of the new Allianz NFL Division 1A, a galling 0-8 to 0-9 defeat by neighbours Fermanagh at Enniskillen.

Having been out-muscled by Dublin on their home patch last week, Mickey Harte's Red Hands sit bottom of the table with fellow Ulster giants Armagh, surprisingly, as their suprising basement bed fellows.

Fermanagh, on the other hand, are scrapping with Mayo for honours at the top after their second win in the space of seven days.

2005 Footballer of the Year Stephen O'Neill could do little with Barry Owens marking him out of the game, but he still hit three early points to help Tyrone into a 0-6 to 0-4 half-time lead.

Ciarán O'Reilly and James Sherry shared out the Ernesiders' scores, while Tyrone's Martin Penrose should really have done better when he flashed a goal chance over late in the half.

Fermanagh, now matching Tyrone in the possession stakes, levelled things on the scoreboard with points from centre forward Tom Brewster and attack-minded centre back Shane McDermott. It was another defender, corner back Shane Goan, who put Charlie Mulgrew's men 0-7 to 0-6 in front.

Mark Little, a star of Fermanagh's run through to the 2004 All-Ireland SFC semi-finals, came off the bench to strengthen the home side's attack.

After O'Reilly had banged over his third point, Kevin Hughes fisted over Tyrone's seventh point, all of 26 minutes into the second half. Little replied with a heartening score, and while Sean Cavanagh soloed through to reduce the gap to one, Mulgrew's men deservedly held on.